g of the last century, the forces of combination dominated at
its close. The new order was the product of necessity, not of choice.
The life of the frontier had ingrained in men an individualism that
chafed under the restraints of combination. It was the compelling
forces of impending calamity and the opportunity for greater economic
advantage--not the traditions or accepted standards of the business
world--that led to the establishment of the centralized wealth power.
American business interests were driven together by the battering of
economic loss and lured by the hope of greater economic gains.

Years of struggle and experience, by converting a scattered,
individualistic wealth owning class into a highly organized, closely
knit, homogeneous group with its common interests in the development of
industry and the safeguarding of property rights, have brought unity and
power to the business world.

Individually the members of the wealth-controlling class have learned
that "in union there is strength"; collectively they are gripped by the
"cohesion of wealth"--the class conscious instinct of an associated
group of human beings who have much to gain and everything to lose.

FOOTNOTES:

[37] The 169 largest railroads in the United States have issued
84,418,796 shares of stock. ("American Labor Year Book," 1917-18, p.
169.) Theoretically, therefore, there might be eighty-four millions of
owners of the American railroads.

[38] Summary of the Report of the Federal Trade Commission on the Meat
Packing Industry, July 3, 1918, Wash., Govt. Print., 1918.

VIII. THEIR UNITED STATES

1. _Translating Wealth into Power_

The first object of the economic struggle is wealth. The second is
power.

At the end of their era of competition, the leaders of American business
found themselves masters of such vast stores of wealth that they were
released from the paralyzing fear of starvation, and were guaranteed the
comforts and luxuries of life. Had these men sought wealth as a means of
satisfying their physical needs their object would have been attained.

The gratification of personal wants is only a minor element in the lives
of the rich. After they have secured the things desired, they strive for
the power that will give them control over their fellows.

The possession of things, is, in itself, a narrow field. The control
over productive machinery gives him who exercises it the power to enjoy
those things which the w